Bangkok countdown:

PS for the last one: my travel companion got angry that she was listed only as travel companion and she deserves better--her name is Ilse Falk and she's a single civil engineer from new orleans who like long walks on thai beaches ;)

1,2,3...go



Fruits Tasted:
1. mangosteen
2. rambutan
3. dragon fruit
4. durian (well only a lick of a candy flavored like this one bc it's pretty much the most revolting vegetarian food item you'll ever come across)
5. lychee
6.startfruit

Words/phrases learned in Thai (I think I could look up the correct spelling but that's just stupid bc they use characters anyway so phonetic will do fine):

1. sa-wah-tee-ka=hello/ good morning/afternoon/night
2.kop-kun-ka= thank u
3. chai=yes
4. mai=no
5.mai kun ka=no thank u
6. lo gam=goodbye (and also bye bye the cabbie said so that one is used by me a bit more often)
7. ka ru naa=please
8. my pee lie= no problem
9. shurn ka/ pie kan teuh=let's go
10. chun cow=cheers

# of times at an internet cafe in 2.5 or 3 days=4

# showers= many

things i've seen/done/been to or whatever in Bangkok: (the real meat)
1.river canal tour
2.wat arun (the marble temple--too many steep stairs but well worth it)
3. wat po (reclining buddha- I call it lazy buddha cause that's more fun)
4. grand palace (grand it was indeed)
5. wat phra kaew (temple of the emerald buddha--has different outfits depending on the weather, no i amnot kidding)
6. siam sqaure
7.chatuchak market
8.dinner and a movie
9. thai boxing match

you may be thinking...one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong (can you hear the toon?) so yeah, goin to a movie sounds like a silly way to spend a night in Thailand but no!--it is a neccessary cultural experience (at least for the first 10 minutes) and as a bonus, its a great way to soak up some ac. When you buy tickets you must specidy regular or delux (those are different areas of the theater and slightly different prices--regular sits closer upand maybe cranks their necks to see) and you must also specify whether you want honey moon seats or not. Ilse and I thought 'wow! honeymoon seats, yeah! that sounds great! turns out it only means that the arm rest between seats can be lifted for canoodling purposes. oh well, we got them anyway at no extra charge and had a good laugh with the ticket lady.

Once the lights dim, everyone in the theater rises from their assigned seats and the national anthem is played accompanied by a lovely montage video of the king(it might be noted here that this interupted one couple's use of the honemoon seats)--the anthem is moderately long and various pictures are shown: (here's another list but there are too many to number) the king in his military get up, at coronation, with his family, without his family, giving handshakes, patting heads, panning shots with the king in them and close ups of the king, the king in plain clothes, the king in royal attire, in cars, standing on balconies, sitting on thrones, walking along the street, with hair, without hair (mostly without), with the queen, without the queen (also mostly without bc thai ppl just aren't quite as fond of her, a little fond, but not quite as fond) and so on...the king is well-loved by his kingdom fo sho. The anthem was followed by two commercials; one in which an entire sceen from the movie love actually was reenacted--not sure what was being sold but i'm sure there was copywright infringement somewhere there. And a second which is probably one of the most disturbing advertisments I've ever seen--An ad for coca cola involving a scary mime, carnival music and a high pitched cackle... and then we got to see a movie taboot!

Things I've done for luck:
1. wish at lucky buddha
2.rub elephant statue at wat phra kaew
3. roll stone in lion statue's mouth back and forth 3x at the grand palace
4. drop coins one in each bowl along the side of lazy buddha

lucky is almost as well like as the king :)